Mississippi Today
Legislation to designate Evers home as a national monument reintroduced
By Mississippi Today
Mississippi’s two senators have reintroduced legislation to designate Medgar and Myrlie Evers’ Jackson home as a national monument within the National Park System.
“The Medgar and Myrlie Evers home is of great historic significance to the civil rights movement as well as our American history and deserves to be recognized as a national monument,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said in a news release last week. “That is why I have continued to work with the members of our Mississippi congressional delegation to bring additional resources to the site. These efforts will help ensure future generations can learn about the life and legacy of the Evers family.”
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith added, that “The preservation of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers home as a national monument will help future generations understand this family’s important role in the pursuit of equality and justice as part of the civil rights movement.”
According to the news release, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson reintroduced companion legislation to Wicker and Hyde-Smith’s bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I, like many others, have always been inspired by the magnitude of determination Mr. Evers showed by dedicating himself to others and fighting against adversity,” Thompson told the Clarion Ledger last year when he first sponsored a bill to make the home a national monument.
Today, the Medgar Evers Home Museum is among a network places in the state that tell the stories of Mississippi’s African American heritage.